This doesn’t feel like the posthumous collection it is. These stories are impeccably crafted, and fit perfectly together. That’s a credit to the skill of the writer: even his non-published works are eminently publishable.

I started to read Vonnegut after watching him interact with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. His dark humor and wise quips were enough for me to take a chance on his writing next time I dropped by the book store.

I’m thankful for his large catalogue of writing—and I hope there are still some more gems hiding in his files. ( )

While the book as a whole goes by in a flash, there are one or two stories that really made me laugh. I still smile thinking of them today. The situations Vonnegut places his characters in seem fantastic, but he gives them real emotion and a down-to-earth appeal. The rest of the stories are quite forgettable, but I'm sure I enjoyed reading them. ( )

A collection of stories and essays by one of my favorite authors. Most are based on his experiences as a POW in Dresden, and in the time right afterwards. Several seem like attempts to craft his experiences into a story of some sort, and as the stories are undted, you wonder if these were early attempts to get a handle on it all - which he did in Sluaghterhouse Five. Or maybe they were later variations on this major and life-altering experience. Either way, they are very good, but not his best work. Still, it's good to read anything by this great American writer. ( )

This is an uneven collection of writings as are most posthumous collections. Nevertheless the writing is quintessentially Vonnegut. The title reflects the book's loose theme; it contains recollections and stories tied to his wartime experiences in the Battle of the Bulge and as a POW in Dresden during its firebombing. I particularly enjoyed his last written speech delivered at Clowes Hall by his son shortly after Kurt's death. Aptly, his last written words were: "And I thank you for your attention, and I'm out of here." ( )

It's hard to write an objective review of this collection -- presumably, Vonnegut's final publication, a mélange of heretofore unpublished works -- since I've been anticipating this for many months and managed to read it in just a few hours after its official release.

The truth is that this book, while not as strong as Vonnegut's previous works or even his other collection of "unpublished" pieces, Bagombo Snuff Box, still contains moments of brilliance, pathos, and humor, the things we've come to expect from Vonnegut.

Mark Vonnegut's introduction, written in a faux-Kurt style, is an appropriately unassuming opening, save for the insistent revelation that Kurt worked painfully hard to get his casual, off-the-cuff style just right, and it is armed with this knowledge that we approach perhaps the weakest piece in the collection, his final written (but never performed) speech. He rehashes some jokes, and speaks about war with an anger that's missing in much of his previous work, but the speech's uncomfortable mix of humor and horror sets the stage for the stories to follow.

There's not nearly enough room to explore all of them, but there are very few if any that can be characterized as unmemorable, and at least half are astonishing in their own ways. Whether it's the helplessness of the final scene in "Happy Birthday, 1951," the blisteringly funny satire of "Armageddon in Retrospect," or the last-second twists that give radical new meaning to "Great Day" and "The Commandant's Desk," each work manages to encapsulate some small part of the familiarity of Vonnegut's voice, so that even if the individual stories aren't the strongest, they operate within the work as a whole to create a stunning reminder of Vonnegut's gifts.

If nothing else, this posthumous collection feels like a long-lost note from an old friend, a comforting voice telling a few good stories, a nostalgic look back over the career of one of the most unassuming voices in American letters. It will warm your heart, then break it in two.